Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerWith funding certain to be cut from schools' athletic departments, sports like swimming could be eliminated from many schools.Entire sports teams could be lost. Longtime coaches might lose their jobs. Middle school programs could disappear.

As school officials decide how they will deal with massive budget cuts that will affect every district in the state, high school athletic directors agree it is a matter of how much, not if, sports programs will be affected.

"I’d be lying if I told you I don’t have a pain in my stomach," Nutley High School athletic director Joe Piro said. "It’s just not going to be good."

Gov. Chris Christie last week proposed a state budget that would spend $820 million less on public schools next year. A day later he released district-by-district state aid figures that cut 40, 50 and even 100 percent of state aid allotments for the coming school year.

Each of the state’s nearly 600 districts saw reductions of aid equal to about 5 percent of their current budgets.

As districts lose millions of dollars, administrators are scrambling to devise plans. Among the options discussed in athletics:

• Eliminate subvarsity programs — including in middle schools — which would allow schools to save large amounts of money on transportation, officials, supplies and coaches’ salaries.

• Implement pay-to-play programs, which would allow schools to supplement their athletic budgets with money from those participating. It is uncertain how much it would cost to play for different teams at different schools.

• Abolish teams based on low-participation and high-cost figures. Bowling, indoor track, swimming and ice hockey are the teams most frequently discussed as being eliminated.

• Layoff coaches or reduce staff sizes to minimize the financial burden on the program. Some long-tenured assistant coaches, for instance, can earn roughly $6,000 per season.

• Athletic directors would oversee multiple high school athletic programs instead of just one — an idea that already has been discussed in Newark.

"There are a lot of options," said Piro, whose district is losing $2.7 million in state aid, a 34 percent decrease. "And none of them are good."

Typical athletic budgets in New Jersey can run between $300,000 and $800,000, depending on the size of the school, its number of athletic teams and the amount of participants. Athletic directors estimate their budgets will be cut by tens of thousands of dollars, but won’t know for sure until next month. School districts are required to have finalized budgets ready for placement on the ballot by April 3. Budget elections are April 20.

COLD, HARD FACTS

Livingston High, in Essex County, stands to lose all of its state aid, which amounts to $4.3 million — 4.7 percent of its district budget.

It has 75 varsity and subvarsity athletic teams and spent $500,000 on athletics last year, excluding coaching contracts.

"I just want to preserve positions and programs," Livingston athletic director Patrick Genova said. "The cold, hard facts have been conveyed. There have to be savings and we all need to put our thinking caps on."

Asbury Park High, in a much smaller school district, is projected to lose $3.4 million in state aid — 8 percent of its total district budget.

Athletic director Ron Standridge said the impact on his program could be minimized by shaving one or two games from the schedules of each of his roughly 40 varsity and subvarsity athletic teams. Standridge said eliminating one game per team could save roughly $300 on transportation and officials; across all sports teams it could trim thousands.

Standridge also recommends scheduling more quad meets in track and double-headers in other sports to save on transportation costs.

Like many athletic directors, Standridge hopes to save all of his teams and coaches from cuts. He said since he took over in 2006, the number of juvenile arrests in Asbury Park dropped from more than 550 to 298 last year, which he attributes to the school’s recent excellence in sports.

"If kids are extremely active and busy, there’s no doubt your crime will definitely drop," Standridge said. "It’s more time they’re with coaches who care and less time they’re out on the streets."

Neil Rosa, the athletic director from Moorestown High in Burlington County, anticipates the state transitioning to a formula where schools would be partially responsible for funding their sports teams through gate receipts, fundraisers and corporate sponsorship.

Dave Dierker, the athletic director for Cincinnati public schools, said Ohio high schools operate under a similar ideology, with many funding their athletic programs using pay-to-play or a variety of fundraisers such as bingo night and selling concessions at professional venues.

Currently, Phillipsburg High raises roughly $130,000 per year, according to athletic director Thomas Fisher, through season ticket packages for fans and its annual Thanksgiving football game against bitter rival Easton High School in Pennsylvania.

"We’re never going to be able to go back to the way it was in funding co-curricular activities," Rosa said. "The new age athletic director at the high school level is really going to have to know how to handle sports marketing and promotions. The combination of funding is going to be such where we’re going to rely partially on tax revenue and partially on gate receipts and fundraising. I think that’s right around the corner."

But for now, cuts must be made.

"We’re going to all have to try and make it work," Millburn Superintendent Richard Brodow said. "It’s a new ballgame, and the rules have been changed at the last minute."

Jackie Friedman co-wrote this story. Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@starledger.com. Jackie Friedman may be reached at jfriedman@starledger.com.